Keller @ Large: Watch The Tone Of This GOP Convention
BOSTON (CBS) - It's a given that this week's GOP Convention and the Democratic Convention next week will be largely aimed at improving the rock-bottom approval ratings of the two nominees.
Anything less would be gross malpractice.
Read: GOP Convention Live Blog
But whipping up the partisans is also a crucial goal, especially for the Republicans, who are significantly more divided and wary of their nominee than the Democrats, unbelievably enough.
That's why I'll be closely watching the tone of the GOP infomercial that kicks off Monday.
Watch: Live Gavel-To-Gavel Coverage
It's been 52 years since Sen. Barry Goldwater, the last "outsider" GOP nominee, used his nomination speech to rebut claims he was too extreme to be president.
"I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice," he declared. "And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue."
That didn't go over so well – remember the Democrats' "daisy" ad depicting Goldwater as bent on annihilating a curly-haired little girl by plunging us into nuclear war?
These are different times.
Extremism seems more widely acceptable in our culture than it once was. This is the era of the X Games, the Ultimate Fighting Championship, and the can-you-top-this violence and vulgarity of the internet.
Our political discourse has not been immune, to put it mildly. One theme making the right-wing rounds is that President Obama has the "blood" of the slain police officers in Dallas "on his hands," an inflammatory slur eagerly parroted by at least one of Monday night's features speakers, Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke.
I'll lay even odds he rolls that one out tonight, and would it stun you if other distinguished speakers like Scott Baio and Willie "Duck Dynasty" Robertson follow suit?
That type of red meat, fed to the rally crowds by Donald Trump throughout the primary season, has its fans. But by now you'd think they were baked into Trump's base.
His challenge now is to persuade queasy Republicans and skeptical independents who have yet to swallow the Trumpade that a jolt of rhetorical extremism is just the right medicine for what ails us.
I'll share my take on how they handled it tonight at 10 on TV38 and 11 on WBZ -TV News. We'll lay out some other key factors to watch for starting at 5 pm on WBZ, and of course, check out Paula Ebben's live reports from Cleveland on all of our newscasts.
